Should eggs and milk appear in the menu of cancer patients?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Le Thien Quang - Internal Oncologist - Department of Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital. The doctor has more than 15 years of experience in the field of examination and diagnosis of oncological diseases and methods of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and palliative care.
Diet contributes to cancer, cancer recurrence and has the effect of supporting cancer treatment. Many cancer patients abstain from eating animal meat, poultry, eggs, milk,...

1. How important is nutrition for cancer patients?

There are many causes of cancer, including an improper diet, due to contaminated food. From the stage of processing, farming, transportation, ... all may have the risk of causing cancer.
Because cancer is a mutated cell, other healthy cells also need to develop normally, so nutrition plays an important role in helping patients have enough health to fight disease, meet the specific cancer treatment methods such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy,... If the patient's nutritional status does not improve, the doctor cannot perform the treatment regimen or the results fail because of the disease. Patients are not able to tolerate the side effects of the treatment regimen. Therefore, patients need to understand that adequate nutrition is a factor in improving the health of people with cancer.

2. Should cancer patients eat eggs, drink milk?

Because the concept in folk and today is still popular in our country that people with cancer must limit protein of animal origin so that cancer cells do not grow faster, but this is an important factor. wrong concept.
Eggs, milk, chicken, beef, green vegetables, red beans, rice, noodles, potatoes... have a lot of Protein, this is the basic substance that helps the human body with cancer heal wounds, fight infections in the body. and after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. It is also a material to restore lean body mass lost due to increased catabolism of the body. At the same time, it helps to enhance appetite while cancer patients always lose their appetite and eat poorly.
Therefore, it is a big mistake for some cancer patients to abstain from eating eggs, drinking milk and other proteins such as chicken, beef, etc. These foods are rich in nutrients and are easily absorbed, helping to improve the patient's health, especially preventing malnutrition for cancer patients. It is important to choose the right milk and the right amount.
According to experts, recommended milk and dairy products for people with cancer include: milk, cheese, cheese made from skimmed milk, yogurt, mixed milk drinks, drinking yogurt. Dairy products in moderate amounts include: ice cream, chocolate-flavored milk, coffee, strawberry and other milks such as oat milk, rice milk, nut milk, etc. In particular, non-dairy milk pasteurized, cheese containing plant ingredients and spices that are not cooked such as chili pepper, blue cheese should not be eaten.
Recommended egg foods include: whole eggs - Poached eggs, scrambled eggs, well-cooked omelets, omelettes. Salted eggs, herbal eggs are eaten in moderation. Raw eggs, eggs that are not thoroughly cooked are absolutely not for cancer patients to eat.
Meat and poultry, experts recommend eating chicken, geese, lean meat, beef.

3. What should people with cancer avoid?

Talk to your doctor about the right diet for people with cancer
3.1. Abstain from food Some groups of food and drink people with cancer need to abstain from, but it also depends on each body, each disease and each time that there is a suitable diet as follows:
Do not eat processed foods such as canned meat, canned fish, cold cuts, sausages, etc. Do not drink beer, wine, bottled soft drinks. Do not eat seafood raised in polluted areas, limit eating mussels, snails, and mussels because of high lead concentration. Do not use a lot of fermented foods such as pickles, tomatoes, pickled meat, salted meat. Coffee should not be used, especially for patients with bladder cancer, pancreas... Do not eat grilled food, because in the baking process will create carcinogens. 3.2. Abstinence according to the patient's condition People who are ill: Need to choose frugal, easy to digest, high nutritional substances, abstain from greasy, rich, indigestible foods such as fried foods, fried foods, fatty meats. People with heat: Choose cool foods, abstain from spicy foods such as ginger, garlic, chili, onions, wine, grilled meats, goat meat, chicken, dog meat, sparrow meat. People who can solder: Choose healthy foods; abstain from raw, cold foods such as cold raw fruit and melons, cold drinks, cool vegetables and cold seafood. Real people: Increase protein appropriately, abstain from eating a lot of things such as duck, chicken, fish; abstain from tobacco and alcohol; especially abstain from eating indiscriminately, abstaining from foods with high fat content. People with cancer have other diseases associated with it: They must diet. If you have cancer with a peptic ulcer, abstain from sour, spicy, hot food, abstain from eating too full or hungry, abstain from eating hard, long-digested foods. With high blood pressure, it is necessary to abstain from salt. With diabetes, abstain from sugar. With kidney failure, abstain from foods high in salt and protein, abstain from animal fat, etc. 3.3. Abstinence according to the type of cancer It is not the same to eat or to abstain from anything, but to decide based on the disease. If a cancer patient develops a fever, acidic substances will accumulate in the body; Eating meat when it decomposes in the body also produces many acidic substances, when acidic substances in the body increase, it will harm the function of the organs of the body, because an acidic environment is a good environment. For cancer cells to thrive, it is necessary to change the diet to change the environment in which cancer cells live.
3.4. Abstinence according to the stage of the disease When suffering from cancer, it is necessary to choose different foods and different taboos based on the different stages of the disease. If you are undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatment, often leukopenia reactions appear, then you need to eat mushrooms, eat eel, tortoise, and longan. If the mouth and tongue are dry, eat honey, sea cucumber, and almonds. After the body's function is reduced, the digestive tract will be significantly affected, so it is necessary to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, and other foods. spicy, fatty (chili, fatty meat); After radiation treatment, the more you abstain from eating foods with harmful heat to yin such as goat meat, dog meat, etc. After surgery, the patient needs to be supplemented with pure foods, called tonic and other foods. Peaceful food, abstain from greasy, greasy, bold flavors, fishy seafood and hot and spicy things.

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